Minor Potentially Deadly Gas (Phosgene) Scare At UN; Situation Appears Safe and Unrelated To Terrorism

The vials of the choking agent seem to have come from Iraq at some point, but likely well before the 2003 invasion.

United Nations weapons inspectors discovered six to eight vials of a dangerous nerve gas, phosgene, as they were cleaning out offices at a U.N. building in New York this morning, federal authorities tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com.
The federal authorities said the office, in a U.N. building near headquarters, was being evacuated and the White House had been notified at 10 a.m.
New York police and fire officials said federal authorities had not notified them of any problem at the U.N. building, as of 11 a.m.
A U.N. spokesperson said a statement would be issued shortly.
Authorities said the phosgene was believed to have been discovered in Iraq and manufactured prior to 1991.
Former U.N. weapons inspectors told ABCNews.com that vials of phosgene had also been used by inspectors in Iraq to help calibrate air sampling instruments.
The former inspectors said the remaining vials were supposed to have been destroyed.

This Wikipedia article seems to dispute that phosgene is a nerve gas, specifically noting that phosgene is less dangerous than nerve agents, so The Deciders may have that one wrong. There are some nerve agents that work by choking, I imagine, shutting off the passive nerve response that controls breathing, but this article seems to say it's not one of those and just attacks throat and lung tissue by causing the production of hydrochloric acid in the body's tissues.

Update: The vials were brought to the UN from Iraq in 1996, FoxNews just said.

Posted by: Ace at 01:04 PM

Comments

1 I wonder when they'll mention which country had these nerve gases in their office.

Posted by: Kaitain at August 30, 2007 01:07 PM (4ep6C)

2 Doesn't matter whether Phosgene is a nerve agent or not. It is comparatively easy to produce, and can kill.

Posted by: Tushar D at August 30, 2007 01:09 PM (IlgNp)

I take that back.

According to CDC, Phosgene can fcuk you up good, but does not kill.

Saddam's diplomats probably brought it in for some recreational huffing.

Posted by: Tushar D at August 30, 2007 01:11 PM (IlgNp)

4 It has been a while, but I seem to recall that most/some nerve gasses are super-potent versions of organo-phosgenes. Phosgenes are sort of the larger family, and would include some common pesticides and other legitimate (though still dangerous) chemicals.

Posted by: Senator Larry Craig at August 30, 2007 01:16 PM (Gzb30)

5 Shoot, I was still using my bathroom alias.

Posted by: holdfast at August 30, 2007 01:23 PM (Gzb30)

6 All of you,

How dare you accuse the former Hussein government of having phosgene for evil purposes. Don't you know that at the time Iraq was the leading developer of pharmasceuticals and semiconductors, which phosgene is used for.

We were storing it in the UN Building because they ran out of space in their production plants.

We only used phosgene for peaceful purposes, not like the evil United States and their lackey, Israel.

Posted by: Bagdad Bob at August 30, 2007 01:25 PM (kv7VZ)

Never use wikipedia when you've already paid (as a taxpayer) for quality research.

http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/hlthef/phosgene.html and links therein.

Posted by: dustydog at August 30, 2007 01:28 PM (MDkjt)

8 Well, the part of the CDC report that stood out, to my mind, is that there it no treatment for phosgene poisoning, even though it kills a little slower that other types of poisonous gas. That's about as bad as it gets, isn't it?

Posted by: Verity Kindle at August 30, 2007 01:36 PM (+QHSc)

9 But wait, didn't the Libs and press assure us that Iraq used up all of its poison gas on the Kurds, before 1991? How could it have come from there in 1996?

Posted by: Iblis at August 30, 2007 01:53 PM (9221z)

10 So we had Iraq WMDs arriving in the US during the Clinton administration? /snide-remark

Posted by: Roy at August 30, 2007 01:58 PM (QBYjk)

11 Oh, so THAT's where it ended up to. Damn maids always chaning places to things!

Posted by: Saddam Hussein at August 30, 2007 02:40 PM (gNNjq)

12 So I went on a bender and forgot where I left them. Cut me a break, fer cryin' out loud.

Posted by: Hans Blix at August 30, 2007 02:57 PM (1Mq7K)

13 The UN is so corrupt that I wonder if someone was holding that with a view to selling it.

Posted by: Lipstick at August 30, 2007 04:16 PM (3y+L6)

Phosgene is a blister agent, much like chlorine gas or mustard gas. It works by mixing with water vapor and hydrating into hydrochloic acid. Since the lungs, eyes, and breathing passages are largely moist it is easy to see how the damage is done.

Nerve agents are usually organo-phosphates, and work on the chemical transmission points between neurons, either by destroying the receptor or the carrier. In that respect they function much like other neurotoxins and as such can be found in pesticides and venoms from various snakes and other animals.

Phosgene is a little harder to claim as an all-out weapon because it is also used in synthetic rubber production.

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